Obama Cuts Ties to Longtime Church ( After 20 years... )

chicagotribune.com ^ | June 1, 2008 | John McCormick and Manya A. Brachear

[kellynla]

Seeking to put a string of controversies involving his longtime Chicago church behind him, Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said he and his family are withdrawing their membership from Trinity United Church of Christ.

Severing more than two decades of ties to his spiritual home on the city's South Side, Obama said he made the decision for his own political needs and in an effort to allow the church a return to some normalcy.

"This is not a decision I come to lightly, and frankly it's one that I make with some sadness," he said at a hastily arranged evening news conference in Aberdeen, S.D.

"Trinity was where I found Jesus Christ, where we were married, where our children were baptized," Obama said. "We have many friends among the 8,000 congregants."

Saying he had prayed about the decision, Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, had for "quite some time" discussed the possibility of leaving the church.

"It's clear that now that I am a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will be imputed to me, even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements and principles," he said.

The latest controversy involving the church erupted last week when an Internet video emerged from an appearance there by Chicago Rev. Michael Pfleger.

Pfleger, who has had numerous run-ins with Chicago Roman Catholic archdiocese leaders for his political activism, mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton from the pulpit. He also suggested that the former first lady is a white elitist who felt entitled to the Democratic nomination for president.

While calling Pfleger a friend and someone who "has done tremendous work in Chicago,"

[Maceman]

Obama was too dim to be aware of what was going on with the church he attended regularly and supported for with tens of thousands of dollars for 20 years.

So how the heck is he smart enough to stay on top of what will be going on in his own presidential administration if he’s elected?

(Not that I think he will be elected, nor do I believe he didn’t really know what was going on in his church.)

[TennTuxedo]

Obama waited 20 years to take action on something he should have done 20 years ago. In leaving his church, Obama is pretending that nothing ever happened and that the slate has been wiped clean.

I'm not buying what he is selling and hopefully more people will remind others that is an election ploy.

[Salman]

Does this mean we won’t meet him in heaven after all? :)

[EverOnward]

I hard an Obama clip on the radio and his comments were along the line that many of the members of the church were being harassed in various ways and so he and his wife decided to leave.

[EverOnward]

I hard an Obama clip on the radio and his comments were along the line that many of the members of the church were being harassed in various ways and so he and his wife decided to leave.

[EverOnward]

“hEard” not hard — sorry

[Maine Mariner]

I should think the most correct answer is #3.

[tobyhill]

Obama sold his soul for power to the devil a long time ago but now the devil wants more from Obama for that power.

[longtermmemmory]

so obama playing the “ok two out of three” THEN I will quit game.

[longtermmemmory]

this is a political decision just like joining the church.

Obama has not “left” this is just a show.

Obama is still a black liberation theologist.

you can take the racist out of the racist church but you can’t take the racist from the racist. Obama has not changed just the building.

[georgia peach]

And the Che poster would still be up in the campaign office if it hadn’t been photographed and no one there would have blinked an eye.Hypocrites.

[Sender]

Obama is totally bad news. He reminds me of the Wizard of Oz; a big, flaming, godlike presence on stage, but in reality just a socialist, bigoted America-basher pulling levers behind a curtain. He is counting on Bush-hatred to overcome his obvious shady associations and propel him into power. There really ARE millions of Americans who are desperate for “change”, whether from Bush, war, religion, responsibility, credit card dept, weight gain, the IRS, their ex, whatever. They see Obama as bringing that welcome change, but they are totally bamboozled. Obama will bring applause from the whole world if he is elected, because then they will know that America will be screwed for at least 4 years and the damage will last much longer.

[Godwin1]

The key here is the Congrgation. The film of the nutty Pfleger showed once again that Trinity's parishoners are a mob of vulgar, crude, racist haters. They mocked and derided all white people, not just Hillary. Their animal-like braying recalled their reaction when Wright mocked the murdered white teenager Holloway. As ugly a demonstration of cruelty and hatred as one could imagine.
Obama associated with this cabal of racists as a South Side politician. Now, on a broader stage, overt anti-white racism is inconvenient. He is a cynical opportunist.

[Grampa Dave]

It is a safe guess that Hussein ObamaMessiaHamas’s focus groups and internal polls and the DNC’s show that Middle America will no longer tolerate Black Racism and Black Racist POS’s posing as ministers. Nor will they vote for a Black Racist, who hates America, Whites and real Christians and Jews.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080601/ap_on_el_pr/obama

There is no way that Hussein ObamaMessiaHamas would have left this anti America Black Racist POS phoney church if not for the internet, Sean, Rush, U Tube and other sources of the real news.

The next target of opportunity are the longtime Anti America black and white mentors/buddies of Hussein ObamaMessiaHamas’s past and present.

[snippy_about_it]

I hadn’t see this until today so I thought I’d post it in case anyone else missed this tidbit.

‘The New York Times reported in early May that the Catholic Church run by Rev. Pfleger received a $100,000 earmark from Sen. Obama and that Pfleger is one of the religious leaders whose “faith testimonials” is posted on the Obama presidential campaign Web site.’

[BigBobber]

Obama had to cut his ties to Trinity, not only due to the incendiary speakers there, but also due to the 8,000 members of the congregation who cheer and dance whenever anything is said against America or white people.

This is the crux of the matter. What the preachers said could be dismissed as an aberration. Barry's friends clapping and cheering approvingly at the hate speech is what's doing the damage.

[kellynla]

I hadn’t see this until today so I thought I’d post it in case anyone else missed this tidbit.

‘The New York Times reported in early May that the Catholic Church run by Rev. Pfleger received a $100,000 earmark from Sen. Obama and that Pfleger is one of the religious leaders whose “faith testimonials” is posted on the Obama presidential campaign Web site.’

AND! "For his part, Pfleger, 59, has donated $1,500 to Obama's campaigns for state office and another $1,500 to his presidential campaign." http://www.newsmax.com/politics/obama_pfleger/2008/05/30/100350.html

I'm not an attorney and I don't play one on TV but I don't "think" this is legal...can churches, priests and/or other "not for profit" organizations donate to politicians and still keep their tax exempt status???

[Bender2]

[Dutch Boy]

"had for "quite some time" discussed the possibility of leaving the church

Yeah, what, about a month?

But that month felt like a lifetime.....

[tcrlaf]

This time, the Messiah Obama has thrown the WHOLE DAMN CHURCH under the bus!

Gotta be gettin’ mighty crowded under there, these days...